Firebird
by Celebwen Telcontar
Summary: Harry is gaining new powers, and Voldemort iscreating anew army to attack the wizarding world!
1. Default Chapter

_**Celebwen Telcontar: Newest fic. Harry has a new power that's growing with his Animagus form. What is it? You'll just have to read!**_

_**Balrog: Ohhh! Why make us wait in suspense?**_

_**Celebwen Telcontar: It's fun! And this is a light LOTR/HP crossover, but also has a new power that you've never seen before! Or maybe you have. I don't know!**_

_**Balrog: Just get to the point. And do you own anything here?**_

**_Celebwen Telcontar: Not a thing. Aside from the Red Mountain Gryphon. I own nothing else. LOTR belongs to JRR Tolkien, HP to JK Rowling, and the Earth to herself. That's all people! Please read and _please_ review! Reviews are my lifeblood! I need them!_**

Hagrid had called for the class to be prepared to turn in a one-foot essay on the Red Mountain Gryphon by next class.

The Red Mountain Gryphon

"The Red Mountain Gryphon is a mythical creature claimed to be seen by sixteenth century wizards and witches in high mountainous climates. It is said to be over five feet tall at the shoulder, red of plumage. That much we know, but everything else is sheer speculation. The only known expert on the Red Mountain Gryphon, Lord Gaius Helton, describes the Red Mountain Gryphon such:

'Firebird, also called the Red Mountain Gryphon, the Volcano Cat, and the Fire Gryphon for its uncanny ability to rule the land is a beast fierce and loyal, the plumage as red as flame, the talons and beak gold. It is a beast able to control the very volcanic forces of the land. The Firebird is a strong beast, and able to bear a human into battle. The sharp talons are capable of rending steel like water, and the body is impervious to all spells. It is a master of the Healing arts, far more so than even a Unicorn. What a beast would we dare to capture. What a clever and cunning creature. It has a hypnotizing gaze that is impossible to overthrow, and whatever the beast wants one under its gaze to do, thou shall certainly do it. Its will cannot be broken, not with the strongest wizard or spell.'

"The Red Mountain Gryphon, alas, is a mythic beast, and as such not in any way alive. Were it alive, it would be a finding of great magnitude."

Harry closed his book and began to write his essay.

"Harry, we have Transfiguration next! Do you have the phial of Animagus potion?" Ron called. "We're supposed to take it within the next hour."

"I've got it. Yours and mine."

"Good. Give me mine." Ron downed his greenish brown potion, and arched an eyebrow.

Harry downed his bright red potion, and shuddered. Then, he picked up his pack, and walked out of the portrait hole with Ron in tow.

"Now students, I want you to point your wands at your partners and say the spell."

"Transferus Animagus!" Harry cried. He pointed his wand at Ron, who transformed into a large green cicada. Then, Ron, chirping, hopped over to Professor McGonnagal.

"Alright, Weasley. Go over and help Mr. Potter." He said the incantation at Harry, and he felt like a flame was enveloping him. He felt as if he was melting into a river of lava, and he felt some of the lava was burning him.

Harry couldn't think; the pain was too great. Ron was trying to say something, but he couldn't understand. Harry couldn't even scream. He just stood there; flattening his ears, trying for some semblance of peace, and then fluffed his wings.

He dove down into the earth with his consciousness, leaving his body behind and found a pool of magma, which he readily immersed himself into.

The burning heat felt good, and he let it seep into his every corner of himself. The cramped cavern soon drove him to find an outlet, and he found one; then he leapt for joy. He felt so exuberant that he danced about, singing.

Caterina DeLuca looked up as the volcano gave two sharp bangs. An arm of smoke was punching its way upward, and people were panicking. Mt. Vesuvius was erupting again, and this time hundreds of thousands of people were caught in the wake.

Professor McGonnagal looked at the red and gold Gryphon that had been Harry Potter. He was lying on his side, looking asleep.

"Harry?" Ron asked.

"He can't be..." Hermione whispered.

"What?" Professor McGonnagal asked.

"A Red Mountain Gryphon," Hermione breathed.

"Miss Granger, will you and Mr. Weasley find both Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid?" Professor McGonnagal asked.

"I'll get Dumbledore," Hermione declared.

Harry danced and leapt, the lava swirling about him in blots and fountains. Ash and rocks rained down from a black sky as Harry jubilantly danced.

Once he was tired, he sped back to his body, leaving a trail of energy back to the mantle. When he got back, he hurt far less than he did before, and he sighed in appreciation of the soft bed.

He recognized that he was in Hagrid's cabin, and ruffled his wings.

"Hullo, 'Ary!"

"Hagrrrid. How arrrre you?" Harry asked, trilling the 'R''s through his beak.

"Yeh... yeh can talk!"

"Aparrrrenly sssssso, Hagrrrid. Sssso, what am I?"

"I think yer a Red Moun'ain Gryphon."

"That would make sssssenssse, ssssseeing assss I manipulated lava and dansssed with it."

"Merlin, 'Arry!"

"Harry, can you turn back?" Hermione asked.

"Perrrrrrhapsssss. I shall trrrrrry." He thought of his human life, and felt a tearing, burning pain. "Did I change back?" he asked.

"Nope. Yer still a Firebird."

"Merrrrlin."

"Try again." Harry did, and the agony ripped through again. He kept at it, until a dull pop was heard, and all went black.

Harry awoke in the Hospital wing, fully human. He felt like something was missing from his life.

"Mr. Potter. You've gotten into the Hospital wing every year. This time, your friend Hagrid said that you changed into a human from your Animagus form of a Red Mountain Gryphon, and fainted after. I don't believe the story. So what's the real truth?" Madam Pomphry asked. "The Red Mountain Gryphon doesn't exist. It'd be the greatest medical miracle since the practice of magical healing was invented." Harry reached down with his consciousness, and touched the mantle. As he did, he felt his body change, and looked up. He lifted his crest, clicked his beak, and Madam Pomphry jumped back. "It's true... the Firebird is real... you're a Firebird... a Red Mountain Gryphon..."

"Yes, Poppy, he is. Hello, Harry. Well, what can you do?"

"Well, Prrrofesssorrr Dumbledorrre, I can manipulate the worrrld arrrround me. Esssspecially the lava."

"Dear Merlin! You can talk vocally!"

"Yesss, I can. May I pleassse ssssee my wand?"

"Alright. What are you going to do?"

"_Wingarrrdium Leviosssa!"_ Harry cried. The vase he had pointed his wand at jumped to the ceiling, shattering on the tiles. _"Rrreparrro!"_ The vase repaired itself, so much that it shattered itself with the power that it repaired it with. Professor Dumbledore brought forth a Slytherin boy.

"Can you control this boy's mind? He's in a detention, and he is one of the best at throwing off the Imperious curse." Harry did what was instinct to him, and willed the boy to do a triple back flip then jump over a bed. The boy did so without reservation. "Excellent, Harry, excellent! Now, I am adept at throwing the Imperious curse. Do the mind-control on me." Harry sighed, and locked eyes with the Headmaster. He pictured the stately and venerable old wizard telling every detail of his last twenty-four hours. Madam Pomphry left within the first two minutes of the play-by-play, especially when Dumbledore explained, in great detail, exactly what the relationship between himself and Professor McGonnagal was. By the end of the narrative, Harry's nares were scarlet and his body was puffed up with embarrassment at having to witness this outpouring of love and affection that the Headmaster had for the Transfiguration professor.

Said professor came in within a moment, and Harry's body puffed up even more with embarrassment, then he ducked his head and slipped as well as he could onto the floor and tried to walk out, looking ludicrous.

"Potter, why are you trying to walk out, in the form of a Red Mountain Gryphon?" Professor McGonnagal asked.

"Prrrrrofessssorrrr McGonnagal, Ma'am, I'm trrrrying to essssscape embarrrrrassssssssment."

"Good Merlin. You can speak vocally?"

"I can."

"What happened to make you embarassed?"

"Minerva, I thought I could throw off Harry's version of the Imperious Curse. I was wrong. Harry had me recount every minute of the last twenty-four hours."

"Albus..."

"Do not worrrrrry, Prrrrrofessssorrrrr McGonnagal. I won't ssssspill thissss inforrrrrmation to anyone, not even if they assssk."

"Thank you, Potter."

"No worrrries, Prrrrrofessssorrrrr."

"Well, now that we got that done, let me turn you back into a human." She gave him a spell, and he shifted into a human.

As he morphed back into his human form, he felt cold and barren. He voiced this to the Mediwitch, who expressed concern and looked over him.

"There's nothing physically wrong with you, Potter, so I'd say that it's something from your Animagus form. Though nothing like this has ever been seen before."

"You said that you danced with lava, so could it be that you can't psychically reach the Earth's mantle in your human form?"

"Perhaps. I managed to touch it in my human form, but changed into a Firebird right after."

"That's the reason then. You're a Firebird at heart, since you are uncomfortable not touching the Earth's mantle. Come right to me if anything happens during your sleep."

"As is, Potter, you'll need to watch your transformations, and visit Professor Hagrid to learn how birds and hippogriffs fly in order to learn how to fly yourself."

"Alright. Well, where's my wand?" He picked it up, grabbed his bag, and trotted down to his Potions class, not looking forward to the Professor's class at all.

The classes came and went, and soon the last class of the day heralded the beginning of Christmas break. As Harry dozed in his bed, he relaxed, and as he did he felt warmth in his chest, then his back felt strange so he rolled onto his chest, folding his forepaws beneath him. Then, he rested his head on the pillow, resettled his wings, and fell asleep to dreams of lava and dancing with volcanoes.

Harry awoke the next morning to Neville gasping.

"Harry, you're your bird self!"

"Grrrreat. I'm a Rrrrred Mountain Gryphon now. I cannot ssssleap without turning into my Animagus forrrrrm, can I?" He changed, with difficulty, back into his human self, and went up to Professor Dumbledore's office.

"Harry, I'm sorry to have to say this," Professor Dumbledore said, "But you can't remain in Human form during periods of relaxation and being away from your mind."

"So what should I do? Especially during Professor Binns and Professor Trelawney's classes?"

"Simple. Attend in your Gryphon form."

"And what if I transform in periods of heightened stress as well?"

"Try to hold onto yourself then, and if that is the case, transform for Professor Snape's classes as well."

"Okay... well, here goes. Do you have a Bogart someplace that I can practice on?"

"In this cabinet. Wand at the ready..." Harry lifted his wand, summoned up the best memory he could find, and got ready. When the dementor came out, he felt something hot break free of himself.

"_Expecto Patrrronum!" _Harry trilled, and then saw an enormous silver stag not just run down the Dementor, but puncture the robes and make it explode in a cloud of sulfuric smelling grey smoke.

"Well, I take it you cannot handle tough situations without turning into a Gryphon. But your Gryphon form maximizes your spells and makes them twice as powerful. I would hate to see a Reducto curse used on someone's heart in your Gryphon form. It would blow up their chest!" Harry nodded in reverence for Professor Dumbledore, and changed back into his Human form.

"I like that form better."

"Good. That's very good, Harry." Harry left Professor Dumbledore's office, and went in search of Ron and Hermione to wait out the coming of Christmas.

Severus Snape was looking through his private library, and found the dusty tome he wanted. It was a very thick book, probably around two thousand pages, and on one subject: the mythical creature known as the Red Mountain Gryphon. He recalled that Harry was not only James' son, but also Lily's. It had been Lily, who had first reached out to him, Lily, who always defended him against James. Lily, who was the first person he ever loved. The only person, to some point. He still loved her so much that it hurt. And now she was gone. He felt terrible, that he had judged Harry. He only had to look into those eyes, into Lily's eyes, and he would see that the father and the son were profoundly different. He ran to his family tree, and remembered that his ancestor, Gaius Helton, had started a line of Squibs.

"Now, Family Tree, show me the last living descendants of Gaius Helton!" A flash of light was seen as his wand fired a spell at the tree, which burned with blue light until a set of images appeared. The youngest was a boy who looked more like a beached whale. His mother looked quite ugly with her long neck, bony face, and horsy front teeth. Then, he saw a boy. He was black haired, rather short, and had vibrant green eyes. They were Lily's eyes. He was being beaten by a dark haired beefy man with a face like unmixed currant ice cream. He was dressed in clothes far too big for him, and was scrawny and underfed. Severus' blood boiled. He clasped the book in one hand, gave it a very good cleaning charm, and wrapped the new-looking book in brown paper, a note written in his best handwriting clinging to the paper.

"Harry, I have found that you and I are related by your mother's side. Please come up to Professor Dumbledore's office at three PM on the twenty-seventh of December. I know you stay over during the Christmas holidays, and would like to talk to you, much like father to son, over a game of chess."

Severus then Portkeyed to his Potions room and called for a House Elf to take the present up to Harry's bed. He then went up to Professor Dumbledore's office, and yelled at him for a good five minutes on how the Dursley's treated Harry. Then, he asked the Headmaster if he could possibly adopt Harry, seeing as he was related to Lily, if distantly.

Harry awoke slowly, stretching every muscle in his sore body. He always was sore after a night of dancing with a volcano, and now he had been dancing with Mount Denali. He rubbed his head with a paw, and preened a wing feather into place. Then, he turned in his bed and saw a pile of presents by the foot of his bed. He took a talon and carefully slitted open a present, and found that it was a box of dead ferrets and other forest loam creatures that Hagrid had sent to him. He dug into a ferret, and looked over his other presents. Then, he spotted himself in a large mirror. His eyes were all that remained of him, as they were the same vibrant green as they always were. But his pupils were slitted like a cat's, and he had a pair of tufts that he supposed were his ears. His beak was shaped like a golden eagle's, and was as gold as a galleon. His neck was long and the feathers a dark wine-like red, almost like his mother's hair. His paws were flexible like an eagle's, but had the retractable claws and fur of a cat's. He stretched out his wings as far as they would go, and reckoned them to be about a good twenty feet wide each. He then looked at his hindquarters, and saw that they were like a cat's, but his tail was flatter and more feathered then a wildcat's. He swallowed the ferrit sticking out of his beak, and tore open the Dursley's present, which was a gun. _Shoot yourself now, and be gone from us!_ the note read. Harry couldn't control a wild shriek of rage from exploding from his chest. The boy's dorm jumped about half yard into the air, and the girl's came racing up to see what the matter was. Hermione took one look at the "present" and magically placed it into a sealed plastic bag, then told Harry to take it up to Professor Dumbledore.

Harry opened a brown paper present next, and read the card before opening the present in and of itself. _Harry, I have found that your mother's side relates you and me. Please come up to Professor Dumbledore's office at three PM on the twenty-seventh of December. I know you stay over during the Christmas holidays, and would like to talk to you, much like father to son, over a game of chess. _the note read. Harry took one look, and small diamond tear fell from his eye, clattering to the ground. He then opened the package, and Hermione squealed in appreciation.

"That's the book by Gaius Helton! The only one in the world!" she cried. Harry turned back into a human, and immersed himself in it.

"Wow! This has some stuff that I never even dreamed I could do! All this on a mythical creature now found to be real. What a marvelous book!" Harry cried. He kept reading, and Hermione had to prod him to open his next packages. An anonymous sender had sent him a ruby encrusted sword and the matching sheath to place around his waist. "This one has to be from Dumbledore. Only he has Gryphindor's sword." He then opened Ron's gift and found some real frogs and some chocolate ones.

"The real ones are for your Firebird form."

"Thanks, Ron," Harry said, transforming back into a Gryphon and eating a frog, to everyone's disgust. "Delicioussss. Absssssolutely delectable. Thank you, my frrriend."

"Any time, mate," Ron replied. Then, Harry opened his gift from Mrs. Weasley, and found the traditional box of homemade fudge and the sweater, not the green one with an H on it, but a black one with a Firebird in flight on the front. Harry looked closer and found that it looked like it had been made from feathers in and of itself. He put it on when he had transformed back into a human, and then he noticed the time.

"We should be getting down breakfasting," Harry said, running for the bathroom with his clothes.

On the twenty-seventh, at three pm on the dot, Harry was shifting his paws in nervousness, as he stood in Dumbledore's office, unable to remain a human in this time of stress. Not that he hadn't tried, it was just impossible. Today he might be getting a new family. Less than a minute later, the office door opened, and Professor Snape entered. He looked as nervous as Harry felt, and Harry surmised that Professor Snape might be the one who wanted to adopt him. Harry sat down; the only part of him not still was his tail, flicking about in a fit of nerves.

"Po—Harry, I'm the one who sent you the book. I'd like you to have a few days to get used to the idea of me adopting you."

"Prrrrofesssor Sssssnape, I…"

"You don't have to answer now, but I know how your relatives treat you, and I also need a blood relative able to inherit. You fit the description, possibly the only blood relative I have left save the abhorrent woman who calls herself your aunt."

"How clossse of relatives arrrre we?" Harry asked, trying to cut down the hissing and trilling that naturally happened when he spoke in his Gryphon form.

"Cousins. My great-great-grandfather, Gaius Helton, yes the author of the book on the Red Mountain Gryphon, started a line of squbs with his firstborn child. His second born, my great-grandmother, cut ties with the squibs. The squbs eventually had a witch in the family, your mother. We're still related by blood, so I can offer you the protection that you need, and you can be the Heir that I need in order to keep the Snape family artifacts from falling into the Dark Lord's hands."

"I… I'll need to think about thisss a bit. I will have that chesss match with you."

"Good. Do you want to go down to my office and have it now?"

"That would be a good idea. Much appreciated, Prrofesssorr Sssnape. Thank you forr the offerr." Harry gryph-grinned, and Professor Dumbledore, having witnessed the whole exchange from his desk, smiled in hope for this to work. Merlin knew that Harry needed a good family, and that Severus was far too lonely. This would work, he prayed.

Harry, now back in human form, pondered Severus' latest move. His queen was in danger, and he had lost over half of his pieces, including knights, one bishop, most of his pawns, and a rook.

"Queen to B5. Take his knight," Harry declaired. The queen didn't move.

"You'd be putting your king in check if you did that."

"My king's already in check; from your knight."

"But capturing my knight would open the space for my rook to take your king."

"Uhh… Rook to B5." The Rook moved, and took the knight.

"Rook to D3. Take his queen," Severus said, and the Rook did as told.

"Bishop to B3. Protect my King."

"Rook to B3. Take his Bishop."

"Rook to B2, take his pawn."

"Rook to A3, take his King."

"Excellent game, Professor."

"Good game to you too. If you ever need help on anything, or just someone to talk to, you know where my office is."

"Thank you, Professor," Harry said, his voice almost choked. "I know what you went through with… James. My cousin, Dudley, gave me the same treatment," Harry said quietly. Severus looked at him closely, then quietly reached over and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry looked up, slightly startled, and Severus gave him a slight smile: one of two survivors of the same kind of tyranny. Harry felt a strange welling up of emotion, and knew what his answer to Severus' question would be. But he had to sleep on it to solidify the decision, to keep himself from acting too rashly. "Thank you," he whispered. "For everything."

Harry knew that he had to get out, or risk bursting into tears before the Potions master, and so he gave a smile, and left. As he reached the Gryphindor hall, the threatening outpouring of tears came, and Harry had to sob the password to a sympathetic Fat Lady.

He paced the dormitories as a Firebird, mulling over the pros and cons. Eventually, he settled onto the hearthrug, gazing into the flames. Crookshanks came up, purring, and settled into the hollow between his wings, then slowly fell asleep, letting Harry think on his decision. Eventually, Harry fell asleep, his mind bogged down with an emotional onslaught.

His dreams were confusing at best, with Harry flying through his life with the Dursleys at warp sped, seemingly being in several places at once. Then, his Uncle Vernon tied him to the bed and poured acid into his eyes and collapsed on the couch, drop dead drunk.

After that nightmare, he saw his life as it could be with Severus. He lived in a mansion, had several house-elves, and had an unbreakable father-son relationship with Severus. The best part was the fact that he knew, instinctively, that Severus cared for him simply for that reason, because he cared, not because Harry was the Boy Who Lived, or that he was an orphan in need of a better home. The house may have been cold on the outside, but all the trust and joy between Severus and Harry brightened the halls, made the grounds far less forbidding, and gave the estate a sense of home. When he awoke, he knew his decision was now unshakable. Even unofficially, he now had a real family, one that cared for him. He couldn't wait to go down to breakfast and say good morning to the person he now thought of as a father figure.

Harry awoke to a burning pain behind his eyes and a sense that he needed to get down to Severus' chambers as soon as possible. With a shriek of pain, he catapulted down the hallway, then literally took flight and glided down the steps down to the Great Hall, cutting his travel time nicely. When he reached the Great Hall, he was molting with terror. He would not loose another person in his ill-ly put together 'family'. Somehow he knew that Severus had been found out and was in dire need of a Healer but couldn't make it to one.

"What's the password?" the painting of Salazar Slytherin asked.

"Just let me in, I've got talonsss and I know how to usssse them," Harry hissed, unsheathing his golden claws.

"Go in, go in! I don't want to be demolished!" Salazar said quickly. Harry rushed through the portrait hole, still molting.

He found Severus in his living room, blood pouring off of his face. His limbs still twitched from having too much of the Cruciatus curse placed on him. His hair was a pale grey, and his face nearly transparent. Harry knew that he had been hit with too many Cruciatus curses, and that he was insane with it. Just like the Longbottoms. Harry let loose a keening wail, and something broke inside of him. He reared on his hind paws, then splayed his fore talons, and gave a falconine screech of loss, his feathers standing on end. He didn't know how Severus had gotten back, but he would do his best to bring the Potions Master back to sanity.

Harry fell to all four paws, and felt some diamond tears drop off of his face and clatter to the floor. Something appeared in his mouth, hard and round. He knew what he must do. He opened the insane man's mouth and pushed the little sphere onto his tongue.

"Sssswallow, Fatherrrr…" Harry whispered, not even sure of what he was saying. Severus managed to swallow the pill, and Harry breathed on his face. The combination soon worked: Severus lost the trembling, he lost the blank look in his eyes, and he gasped in recognition.

"Harry…"

"Jussst ssstay ssstill. I don't know how long it will take to worrrrk." As Harry spoke, he realized that Severus' hair wasn't turning back to its normal black, and that he had only healed his mind. Madam Pomphry would do the rest.

"I need to talk to Dumbledore."

"Jussst ssstay therrre. _Acsssico Dumbledorrrre! Acsssico Madam Pomphrrrry!"_ Harry screeched; his wand outstretched.

"You really think like a Slytherin at times," Severus whispered.

"The hat seriously considered making me a Slytherin; I managed to talk it out of it."

"You talked the Sorting Hat out of putting you in Slytherin! That's impossible!" At that moment, they heard Salazar cry out in horror and swing open hurriedly. Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomphry flew in, and were deposited at Harry's feet.

"Harry, you really must not… Severus, is that you?"

"Yes. The Dark Lord tortured me into insanity because he had found out about me being a spy. He was going to kill me, and the next thing I knew I was here. Harry is responsible for me being able to talk and not babbling all over the place."

"Well, Potter, you did what no living person has ever done before. I commend you for it!" Madam Pomphry exclaimed. She began the physical healing, as Severus could not be moved, or he would risk having internal damage.

"Headmaster, the Dark Lord is creating new creatures. They are like dragons, only with two legs and have gargantuan heads that are nothing like a Dragon; he sacrificed orc, and used the blood of an Elf. He is also trying to find the bones of Morgoth."

"Morrrrgoth! No, he cannot be rrrresssssurrrrecting Ssssaurrrrron the Abhorrrrred!" Harry cried, trilling and hissing in his disbelief and terror. "Now that I think about it, Worrrmtail and Worrrmtongue ssssssound alike. I would sssssurrrrmissssse that He Who Musssst Not Be Named issss Sssarrrruman."

"Harry, do you know of the book the Lord of the Rings!" Severus cried. Harry transformed into his human self.

"I read it enough to know Elvish fluently. I know the storyline by heart, and where some people get the characters so mixed up that they're hopeless, I could tell you where each character was in his or her element."

"Severus, what else is the Voldemort planning?"

"From what I could gather, Headmaster, he is trying to find and use the Silmarils in the war."

"The what?"

"The three great jewels of Feanor. Eärendil the Mariner in his celestial journey uses one as a lamp, we see it as Venus, one was thrown into the seas and the last was thrown into a mighty cleft. Saruman, or He Who Must Not Be Named here and now, is unable to get to any of them. Eärendil starts his journey from Valinor, and ends there as well."

"Interesting, Harry. But what are the powers of the Silmarils?"

"Only Feanor, who crafted them, knows of their powers now."

"Could Sauromen find the other two?"

"No. They are too deep in the sea and too deep in the earth to find. And his name is Saruman, not Sauromen. He's trying to resurrect Sauron the Deceiver, known in Sindarin as Gorthaur."

"Okay…"

"Read the Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion, the Unfinished Tales, and books one and two of the Lost Tales. It will make more sense if you do."

"I'll do that…" Dumbledore muttered, confused to say the least. Madam Pomphry was completely befuddled, and had already left after making sure that Severus was well again. Then, the Headmaster left, leaving Harry and Severus alone.

"Harry, before I was well in mind, I thought I heard you call me Father…" Severus whispered.

"I did. I've made my choice, Father." Harry smiled through the emotional tears that were tracing their way down his cheeks. Severus stood from the couch and enfolded Harry in a powerful, swift hug. Harry started laughing with his joy. "I have a family… I have a family!" Harry was joyous, and soon had Severus laughing as well.

Professor Dumbledore sat behind his desk, looking at Harry over his half-moon glasses.

"Harry, do you know why you were able to talk the hat out of putting you in Slytherin?"

"Why?"

"Because you are Gryffindor's Heir. One other, only one other, student was able to talk the hat out of putting them in the House they belong in. An orphan, brought up as a Muggle, belonged in Hufflepuff, but he decided that he didn't like Hufflepuffs early on. So the Hat decided to put him in his ancestor's house, Slytherin. Yes, Tom Riddle is a Hufflepuff at heart. You have many of Slytherin's most prized qualities, including his gift of Parseltongue. You were born a Slytherin at heart, but you talked the hat out of putting you in Slytherin so it put you in your ancestor's house of Gryffindor."

"So you lied to me. You _lied_ to me about Voldemort having transferred powers to me!" Harry roared.

"Harry, I had to keep you safe! And you knowing that you are Gryffindor's heir is hardly keeping you safe!"

"You…you… are there any _more_ secrets you're keeping from me? I'm sixteen!"

"No more. But the Hat might know some." Dumbledore handed Harry the hat as Severus stepped in.

"Albus, what is going on here?"

"Only Gryffindor's Heir could have pulled his sword from the hat. Harry did that in Second year—"

There was a triple _thud_ and Harry swayed on his feet, to be caught by Severus. The Potions Master ripped off the Sorting Hat and flung it at Dumbledore. Three swords fell from the hat: one bearing the ledger "Helga Hufflepuff," one bearing "Rowena Ravenclaw," and the last bearing the name "Salazar Slytherin". Severus glared at Dumbledore as Harry transformed.

"I see."

"You had better do more than just 'see', you git. You've knocked him unconscious!"

"Oh, dear. I had no idea that he was the Heir of all four Founders, just that he was Gryffindor's Heir!"

"You'd better pray that he has your goodwill at heart, otherwise I will assist him in deposting you from the school. Do you understand, Dumbledore?" Severus hissed.

_**Celebwen Telcontar: I don't know if Morgoth is Sauron's father, but I didn't know who else to put in! **_

_**Balrog: Am I in this?**_

_**Celebwen Telcontar: Maybe later. Please review people. And if you're very good, I'll update. With an interesting trio of characters in America someplace, probably Yellowstone or some other highly volcanic place.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Celebwen Telcontar: Here I am, back again. Well, this one's different. It starts out in a very well known part of America, although the story is a Harry Potter fanfic.**_

_**Balrog: Oh? And what is the area that we're talking about?**_

**_Celebwen Telcontar: A large American landmark._**

_**Balrog: Hunh? **_

_**Celebwen Telcontar: You'll see.**_

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Morning Glory lifted her head, her eyes closed, and glided out over the falls. She dove down, her wings nearly clipping the walls of the canyon, her forelegs extended and her talons closed like a falcons when trying to knock someone down. She decided that since it was April Fools day, she would give everyone a good sharp shock. She pressed her control, and Steamboat Geyser erupted with a massive force, sending water and sulfuric gasses high into the air. She screamed her joy as she dashed along the river, her mate on her tail, and she shot out over the lake, splaying her forelegs and spiraling up along a thermal. Norris was hot on her tail as she streaked out to the center of the lake, and, with a practiced move, lifted herself, tipped downward, and made a full and beautiful dive, closing her nares with a flap of skin inside so she could recycle the air already in her lungs for extended periods of time, meant for use in ash clouds, but still of use here. She also invoked a similar feature of her eyes, and she swam deftly under the water. She spotted Norris streaking overhead, and, with a shriek that came out as a large bubble, she erupted from the water, gripping his hind legs and dragging him down.

Suddenly, she spotted another Gryphon overhead, and shot up, her soaked feathers drying quickly.

"Who are you?" she asked in Gryphonic.

"I… I've failed them…" the new Gryphon said, barreling down. "I died! I abandoned all of them!" He dove with a shriek of self pity, the feathers barely hanging to his body, as bony as a Thestral.

"Come on, Newcomer," Norris said, gripping the newcomer's ribcage and hauling him up out of the water.

"Bloody hell! Let me go! I deserve this; I let my godson nearly get killed! I should have persuaded him harder to go back to Occlumency!"

"Occlumency? Hell, this one's a British Wizard, love!"

"Come on, newcomer. You can tell us all about yourself once you're all dry." She gripped his hindquarters and helped Norris in towing the protesting Gryphon off.

They landed in an area right on top of Steamboat Mountain in a soft valley covered in grasses. "It makes a nice nest," she said, then let the newcomer curl up into a fetal position.

"Alright, Newcomer. Who are you? We can't continue to call you Newcomer, now, can we?"

"I'm… uh… You can call me Snuffles."

"Snuffles? Padfoot? Sirius! Sirius Black!" Norris cried, rearing and flapping his wings. He gryph-grinned. "I'm Norris, this is Morning Glory. Since we were first here, we took names of the Land. We are in Yellowstone National Park, in the United States of America, Sirius. Before we died, we were James and Lily Potter." Sirius looked at them, his jaw gaping, his crest slack with shock, his wings drooping in the valley.

"No you're not."

"We are. We'll prove it to you." Norris changed into a stag, and Sirius looked like he would faint. When Norris returned to his Gryphon form, he was embraced by Sirius, or as best as the Gryphon could. **_(No slash; this is just two old friends being happy to see each other!) _**Then, the two older Gryphons began to teach Sirius about the park, and that they were guardians.

"We are the Guardians of the Land. We are the only beings capable of surviving the magmatic heat that the Earth puts off."

"What do you mean, Guardians?"

"When the Earth was first formed, the Firebirds were not around. The Earth was a maelstrom of churning lava and magmatic currents, never cooling long enough to keep the world stable, or to create water that would stay as water, not as mist or cloud. Then, the Gryphons came. They controlled the Earth's eruptions, cooling the crust and allowing life to form. Now we watch, and wait, and when the Earth is strained, we remove some of the pressure in the form of volcanic eruptions. We also warn the Humans of impending eruptions."

"How? Muggles won't answer to a gryphon!"

"True, but we can let them know that we mean business by sending a transonic quake up, letting them know that it is about to erupt." Sirius nodded. "Now for better news, when you're finished with your training here, you must choose a name for yourself. I chose Norris, for Norris Geyser Basin, and Lily chose Morning Glory for Morning Glory hot spring. I would suggest Excelsior, after Excelsior Geyser near Grand Prismatic hot spring."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The days passed and soon Sirius was well inaugurated into the Park life. He chose an aerie for himself near Yellowstone Falls, and simply watched and waited. He took the name Excelsior, and was often seen flying with Norris.

"Norris, how come the Muggles can't see us?" Excelsior asked once.

"It's because they don't have Earth Sense. Only a few people have Earth Sense now, mainly because of their modern minds. The only humans to have Earth Sense are those who live on an island or something, away from everything, and extremely primitive people. Mainly it's animals that have Earth Sense."

"So is it Earth Sense that allows animals to know when something will happen geologically?"

"Yes."

"Our time in Yellowstone is nearly over. Wizard is coming from Mt. Mazama, Bulge is coming from Mount St. Helens, Lahar is coming from Mt. Rainer, and Pahoehoe is coming from Kilauea. Their leaving their domains to their apprentices: Lake, Dome, Glacier, and Aa." Morning Glory preened her feathers, and then turned to the West, watching the sun sink behind the horizon. Soon all three Gryphons left for their aeries.

The next afternoon, just after the sun reached its zenith, there was a whirring, and a Firebird landed.

"You've had too much on your talons, Morning Glory. And who's this?"

"Bulge, this is our apprentice, Excelsior. He was a human Wizard, and now he's a Gryphon. Excelsior, this is Bulge, the Gryphon who formerly held Mount St. Helens, in Washington State." The Gryphon had a wild look to himself, and his wings were in disarray, as was his crest, all of which were sure signs of volcanic activity in his home region.

"Obviously." Another landed.

"Hello, Lahar. Where are Wizard and Pahoehoe?"

"They're coming in time," the female gryphon said. She took a drink of water from Grand Prismatic Hot Spring. "By the Mother! I had forgotten how good Yellowstone water is!"

"I think it's the high sulfur content that makes it taste so good to us."

"Hmmm!" Pahoehoe landed and began to drink some water with Lahar. Wizard landed then and flicked his tail, and the seven Gryphons began to talk.

"So, what's with the caldera? What's new?" Lahar asked.

"The caldera's warming up. There's a bulge under the lake, and the lake is heating up. But that's about all, save the bloody tourists."

"That's natural…"Wizard said, eyeing a family on the bridge across the way. "They can't see us. I'm hungry…"

"Wizard!" Norris cried. "No eating the tourists!" Wizard laughed, fluffing his wings in mirth.

"I was joking! Anyways, Celebaelin is coming."

"Ce… Celebaelin! I thought she was retired!" Norris cried in shock.

"She was, until that ridiculous British Hitler-wannabe decided to take over the world. Celebaelin is going to be pushing us all to our limits, as she wants us to join the war. On the side of the Light, before you ask. Apparently there's some British Firebird over there as the head of the forces against Darkness," Wizard said, eyeing a small buffalo calf as it ambled over to its herd.

"Makes sense. So who's watching Yellowstone?" Lahar asked.

"We're blowing it up," Wizard replied.

"We're _what?"_ Excelsior cried, flapping his wings.

"We're setting the Yellowstone Caldera off. It's going to be a small eruption, unless more of the magma than we surmised is eruptible," Bulge said. The family on the bridge moved off, and Wizard turned his full attention back to the Gryphnonic council.

"About how large is it going to be?" Morning Glory asked.

"It will be relatively small; about the size of the 1815 Tambora eruption. The earth's temperature will fall only about three degrees Celsius, and though the world will be plunged into a Nuclear winter, it's better than another Huckleberry Ridge sized eruption," Bulge replied.

"I agree with that. But how will mortal society handle this sudden geologic shift in power and pressure?" Pahoehoe asked.

"They'll deal. They've dealt with volcanic eruptions before," Wizard said, not caring about the humans.

Suddenly, there was a thumping, and all looked up to behold a beautiful female Gryphon. Her feathershafts were white, as were the edges of her feathers. Her eyes, unlike the normal Gryphon's bright gold, were the color of newly erupted lava, and the eyes themselves had a slight translucent film over them, rendering the Gryphon nearly blind.

"Celebailin," Bulge cried. "We are down here."

"Just because I'm almost blind doesn't mean I can't use my other senses to see where you are," Celebailin said temperamentally. "So, these are the new Gryphons. Morning Glory, Norris and Excelsior; it is good to meet you three. Now, are we ready? Bulge, you take the Northern end of the caldera. Wizard, you take the East, Pahoehoe the West and Lahar the South. Morning Glory, Excelsior and Norris, you'll take the center, in a triangle five miles from each other. I'll take the exact middle. On my mark, we'll all erupt the areas we're holding."

"But the humans…?" Bulge asked.

"Humans need to be lessened. They're getting too big, too many of them, and too few areas they can live. We're helping the breed in general," Celebailin said.

"I see…" Bulge said quietly.

"Alright!" Celebailin called. "Everyone take your positions!" The eight Gryphons took to the air, gliding over to their designated areas to watch and erupt. As Morning Glory flew over to her designated area, she could feel the magma straining against her boundaries of control. It would only listen to her for so long, until Gaia intervened. Then, the magma would force itself to the surface, and all their preparations would be in vain.

Morning Glory landed, waiting for Celebailin's signal.

_:NOW:_ Celebailin's voice shouted. Morning Glory let the magma loose. It was an adder, writhing and snapping, a wild horse, with the bit between its teeth. It blew from the Earth with a force rivaling the Tambora eruption in 1915. The lava danced with the sky, and with it, Morning Glory launched herself up to play in the fountain of liquid rock. Smoke and stones, pyroclasts and debris were flung heavenward as well as the lava, hiding the brilliant red-orange molten rock.

Within an hour, the sky was choked with ash. And the seven eight Gryphons were on their way to England, to join the second war against Voldemort, a war Morning Glory, Excelsior and Norris had long been dreading yet half-expecting. None of the three realized that the Firebird in England was in Hogwarts, or had been Harry Potter, or even that Severus Snape had adopted the young gryphlet.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

_**Celebwen Telcontar: So, Yellowstone is gone, and with it a good chunk of the human race. Winters are going to grow far colder, ash is going to blanket a good section of the American West, and is going to shut down all sorts of businesses. **_

_**Balrog: Cool! So how does England get affected?**_

_**Celebwen Telcontar: No summer for at least a couple of years, nasty storms, and general unrest in the atmosphere.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Celebwen Telcontar: I know it's been a while. My muse just ran away from me for no reason!**_

_**Balrog: Why? You can't just abandon people here!**_

_**Celebwen Telcontar: Hey! I can if I want to, you big flaming bug!**_

_**Balrog: Big flaming bug. That's new. As for the Firebirds, most of them are ours. Morning Glory, Excelsior, Norris, and Bandoman. We also own two other Firebirds; try and figure out who they are!**_

_**CT&B**_

* * *

The wind whipped through the trees of the Dark Forest, lashing fine airborne volcanic ash through the air, and turning the sky a deadly shade of blackish grey. Harry Potter-Snape, the adopted son of the Potions Master, stood on the ramparts of Hogwarts, his nares extended fully to gain as much information from the ash as possible. He lifted his wings, fanned them twice, then leapt gracefully off of the wall, plummeting almost to the ground before snapping his wings out and soared out towards the eruption.

_It's Yellowstone, _he thought. _The Yellowstone Caldera has erupted! Oh, bugger. This is _so_ not good! _He was about to wheel and go back to Hogwarts, when he saw a group of shapes flying towards him.

"Gryphon! Firebird!" someone cried. A Firebird glided up to him, his crest going every which way, and his wings angled like a falcon's, for the best speed. "I am Norris. Myself, one of my _two_ brothers, Excelsior, and my mate, Morning Glory, were manning the Yellowstone Caldera, but had to let it blow to keep it from blowing out of our control later. A small eruption, much unlike the Huckleberry Ridge eruption, is much better than a larger one."

"Why in Hephaestus's name are you telling me this?" Harry asked.

"Because, Manor-On-The-Hill, you are the resident Firebird. Merlin, you're young, aren't you?" one of the two males asked.

"I'm sixteen years old. And why do you call me Manor-On-The-Hill?"

"Because you're the resident Firebird. We always take names off of the local geography. This place used to be a place called The Hill. Hogwarts constitutes as a manor, thus Manor-On-The-Hill. He's barely a fledgling, Nor," the female said softly.

"I understand, Glory. But still… to be holding the lands of Great Britain all by himself, at sixteen—"

"Yes, and at sixteen you two idiots were off trying to get yourselves killed!"

"Who are you?" Harry asked Morning Glory.

"Morning Glory. I was named after—"

"Your Human name, Firebird!" Harry snapped. His patience was wearing thin from these three Firebirds. Who were they and what right did they have to encroach on _his _territory?!

"Uhh… it was… I was killed fifteen years ago by a murderer in the Human world… I was… My name was… it was a flower… Lily. That was it! Lily Evans Potter!"

"Uhhhhhh…" Harry said, nearly falling out of the air. "If any of you two try anything, _anything, especially __attempted murder_, _again_, you'll have me to deal with. Now come, the lot of you. I'll bet that the two of you are James Potter and Sirius Black, right?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"For the Goddess' sake! My crest is just as crazy as his. Please forgive me if I reiterate the known, but I am Harry."

"My... my... Harry?" Lily, or Morning Glory, whispered.

"Yes, now come with me so that I can take you to Albus."

"Well, lad, you're good," a wise and venerable voice said. Harry looked around to see an old Firebird, fanning her wings every now and again. He could tell that she was nearly blind, and her feathers and coat were a deeply silvered red and gold. She looked more like the color of molten rock than the color of fire, but she was also extremely ancient. "Manor-On-The-Hill, you are the greatest Firebird to hold the British Isles section of land. Since the land itself is quite non-volcanic save a small portion of Ireland, that is not a big feat. However, you are the descendant of one of the most venerated humans we have known, and thus our kind knows of you."

"Who? Who's my ancestor?"

"The oldest Firebird, Arda-i-Nar. He mated with Nariel, the first female Firebird. As such, you are strong, Manor-On-The-Hill."

"What is going on here?" Lily Potter's reincarnation asked the ancient female Firebird.

"I am going to train Bandamon—"

"What? What was that word?"

"Bandamon? It is Manor-On-The-Hill's name in the Ancient Tongue."

"Alright," James Potter's reincarnation said firmly. "But you aren't training him; we are. We haven't had enough time with him as is, only a little more than a year."

"Hey, what about me? What am I, dog food?" Sirius' reincarnation snapped.

"No, none of you will train him! I am more capable, since I am older!" Celebailin snarled. Bandamon had had enough. He flew from the edge of the field that the three of the other Firebirds bickered.

The oldest Firebird soon caught up to him.

"Bandamon, come with me. We can visit a sacred Firebird place of healing. I should have come far sooner, but the Yellowstone caldera was unstable, and I had been hibernating."

"We hibernate?" Bandamon asked.

"When it gets too cold, we go into a stupor and stay that way unless a shock of heat reaches us. You're the first Firebird born of Human parents. Of course, then again, that could be why your parents turned into Firebirds when they died. The Veil destroys a person's body and flings them into the body of something else."

"So why are you here?"

"To help you, Bandamon." Bandamon wheeled sharply with Celebailin, heading out to the West and out to sea.

* * *

The Potions Professor walked through the door, rubbing his face with his hand. Since his return of sanity, he had had a difficult time with the classes. They were more rowdy, and a flying piece of anything could land in someone's caldron and make the entire school go the way of Mt. St. Helens. He looked at the fireplace, and saw a Firebird, sitting calmly next to his couch.

"Who are you?!" he snapped. He knew this wasn't Harry; this Firebird's crest was too tame. Its eyes were killing-curse green, the same as Harry's, and its coat was the same shade as his son's, however the unknown Firebird also was smaller than Harry, and its beak was more golden.

"Hello, Severus," the Firebird started, revealing that she was female. Severus looked at the creature, and nodded at it.

"Yes, Firebird?" he asked acidicly.

"You still haven't lost your wit, have you, Severus?" The voice woke a part of him he thought was dead.

"Lily…"

* * *

"Here's where we land," Celebailin called over the roaring sea. A large mountain reared out of the ocean, its jagged peak higher than the clouds. It was a tiny place, and entirely volcanic. The ancient female Firebird landed on the slopes of the steep mountain, waiting for him to do so as well. Bandamon went into a sharp dive, missed his landing place, and smashed into a large group of juniper trees.

"Bandamon!" Celebailin called, rushing over to him. His wings were splayed across the prickly brush, and his left hind leg throbbed sharply. "Where are you? What have you fallen into?" she asked. "I can only see your heat-signature."

"I'm in a group of bushes."

"Try to get out. I can't see anything save heat signatures these days."

"Hello, Celebailin," a voice called. A small Firebird rounded the corner of a rocky outcrop, and started to push through the juniper branches to get to Bandamon.

"Hello, Bulge," she replied, lounging then closing her eyes and going to sleep.

"Hey, Newcomer. What's your name? I'm Bulge."

"My name is Bandamon. I'm the British Isles Firebird."

"Oh, so you get the easy part while we're all in who knows where! What do you think of the eruption? Pretty cool, huh?"

"Yah, cool."

"We started it. The rest are just around here." Bulge supported Harry on his uninjured side, so the younger Firebird could limp over to the large conglomeration of Firebirds.

"Hello, youngling," a deeper red female Firebird called. She went back to ripping shreds of meat off of a dead deer. "I'm Lahar, dear. I used to be assigned to Mt. Rainier in Washington."

"Uhhh…" Bandamon said.

"We should introduce ourselves," another male Firebird said. "I'm Wizard. I used to hold Mt. Mazama, now Crater Lake, in Washington State." He had a slicked back crest, and he stood as though for a portrait, not a feather moving.

"I'm Pahoehoe. I used to hold the Hawaiian island chain. How are you doing, sweetheart? Was your flight alright? All this ash in the air is so invigorating, isn't it?" the Firebird burbled.

"Pahoehoe, don't babble," Bulge said, coming up. "Well, that's everyone here, so far. We're having a Firebird Masters conference here for the next three weeks. Hopefully our apprentices can handle everything…"

"I'm sure they can, Bulge," Pahoehoe said. "After all, Aa and Dome were trained very well."

"Hopefully just as well as Lake and Glacier."

"Your siblings will be fine, Bulge!" Pahoehoe reassured her mate.

"Incoming!!!" Wizard shouted, moving out of the way.

"Hola, mi amigos! Como estas?" a brilliant orange Firebird called as he landed. An identical one landed right beside him, obviously the first's twin.

"I'm Flurge—" the second one started, only to be cut off by his twin.

"And I'm Slow—"

"We are—"

"The Mexican—"

"Firebirds!" the two said, as if they were Fred and George.

"Surge and Flow!" Bulge cried out.

"Oh, no!"

"It's the—"

"Crazy Mount—"

"Saint Helens—"

"Bulge!" the twin Firebirds chorused.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Bulge said as if he were getting some ridiculous award.

"Surge and Flow are twins," Pahoehoe said softly to him. "They regulate Mt. Popocatepetl and Mt. Colima in Mexico. They just showed up one day, and took over from old Field, who was holding both of them."

"Hey, dudes!" a voice called from above. A strange Firebird landed, rolling carelessly. His feathers were an eye-blinding shade of green and his coat was a sickening lemon-yellow. "Righteous place you got here, dudes!"

"That would be Stone. We think he might have eaten some drugged up humans back in the 1960's, but we're not sure," Pahoehoe explained.

"So who's the greaser?" Stone asked, looking in Bandamon's general direction.

"This is Bandamon, Stone," Lahar said. "Bandamon, Stone watches the San Andreas fault, which is probably why it is so notorious." Stone didn't react to Lahar's death glare, just sat woozily.

"Stone! Who's watching the San Andreas?" a new voice called. A group of about ten Firebirds landed, flaring their wings and looking at Bandamon curiously.

"Gimmie some skin, Sumo!" the Hippie Firebird said.

"Go away, Stone. Who's watching your sector?" the Firebird repeated.

"Chill out, dude! Nothin'll happen."

"Stone, you go back to your sector! It's only your fault that you can't hold an apprentice! And my name is Shoji, not Sumo!"

"Re-lax, man!"

"Go on, Stone," another Firebird snapped. "You might find yourself watching Nevada beachfront property! Good evening, youngling. I am Shoji, the guardian of Japan. This is my daughter, Rangitoto, the New Zealand guardian. Her children are Jökull, Rift, Pumice, and Ifaisteio."

"Those names are a mouthful," Bandamon protested.

"They are all in the native tongue of their region," Shoji said proudly. "Rangitoto is in New Zealand, Jökull is in Iceland, Pumice is in Italy, Ifaisteo is in Greece, and Rift is in Africa."

"Shoji! Stop jabbering!" a female Firebird scolded. "I'm sorry, dear. My name is Plinia. Shoji is my mate." Bandamon shook his head, sending loose feathers everywhere.

The other Firebirds milled around, talking to old friends. The Hippie Firebird soon was ostracized into a niche of rock, where the tie-died Gryphon just watched the proceedings. Soon, Celebailin came walking up to a large outcropping of rock, guided by Shoji.

"We are all here to help the Wizardkind," she said aloud. The large group of Firebirds looked scandalized at this, yelping that the Wizards didn't need help.

"Why don't we?" Surge and Flow said in stereo.

"Because they're _human_, blockhead!" a new Firebird snapped in reply.

"Stop being such idiots, the lot of you!" Celebailing snarled. "The world is coming apart at the seams, space and time are running amok, and you are being a group of complete morons! Why do I waste my time with you?! Come, Bandamon. We're gong back to England and letting the world rot!"

* * *

_**Celebwen Telcontar: What do you think? Do you think I should just stop it here?**_

_**Balrog: don't be ridiculous. I actually like this one. It's got fire in it!**_

_**Celebwen Telcontar: (Slowly backs away) A pyromaniac. I should have known… Please review, people!**_

_**CT&B**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Celebwen Telcontar: I am messing with history here. Where one of the characters in this story was considered a traitor, I also made him a heretic. He was a Catholic in the reign of a very powerful and sadistic Protestant king, and so, instead of being hung, as he was in history, he was burned at the stake. Since the history says that that particular King cracked down severely on Catholics and broke with the Pope, I am just upping the time scale a bit.**_

_**Balrog: Remember, Rem— **_

_**Celebwen Telcontar: Don't go giving them any ideas, Balrog! Please read and review! **_

_**CT&B**_

"Great," Shoji snarled as the Firebird conference came to a close. "We have done nothing useful these past few days. Absolutely nothing."

"Rawk On!!!" Stone cried, the technicolored Hippie gryphon doing a cannonball into the ocean.

"If we have to put up with that menace, I won't be happy," a Firebird named Kilimanjaro snapped, shaking her head at Stone's antics. The grey skies were filled with ash, and the Firebirds were all hyper because of it.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Pummice cried, running up to a Firebird that Bandamon hadn't been introduced to yet. Pumice's tail gyrated out of control and her wings were everywhere at once. She slammed into Bandamon, and shook her head with youthful exhuberence. Bandamon wanted to go and find a Snitch, but he had been chatted to all day long.

"Righteous! Righteous! Righteous!" Stone cried as he swooped from the ocean like a heat-seeking missile. He flailed his bright body over the entire mob, getting everyone wet. A Firebird that Bandamon didn't know snarled at the perpetually-stoned Firebird, and the volcanic island they were on began to smoke. Bits of rock flew in all directions as the volcano gave a small eruption; small in comparison to the recent Yellowstone catastrophe.

"Good Gods of Fire," Lahar said softly to Bandamon. "One would think that a little ash wouldn't spark such a party! Thank goodness we're not Humans and we aren't in some high-populated urban area!"

"Firebirds are so cooooool…" Stone put in lazily from just above Lahar's head. The female Firebird jumped, and turned to her attacker. Her claws were soon tangled in the bright Firebird's scalp, sending magma-colored blood spilling everywhere. "Chill out, Dudette!" Stone cried, backing off from Lahar. The red-orange blood clashed horribly with his electric-green feathers, and he soon was flying high above everyone else. His voice drifted down to them from time to time, and he sang a very off-key version of Dick Van Dyke's "Stepping Time", making odd passes at the massed Firebirds off and on.

"Stay out of our flock, plant wannabe!" an older Firebird named Pyro snarled to the Hippie.

"Hang loose, Py!" Stone called, swooping on the other Gryphon. Pyro looked perfectly placid; until about two seconds before Stone would have swooped up from his stoop. Pyro fisted a talon and gave the Hippie a nasty bruise on his chest, causing the tie-died bird to go flying out of control "Far out!" they heard him call as he went sailing. "Psychedelic!"

"Maniac!" Pyro snarled in response.

"Idiot," Lahar said conversationally. "Now you'll never get rid of him."

"I agree," Celebailin said as she approached the podium. "If you don't react, he'll grow tired of it. Now, Firebirds, we need to go to England."

"England?!" Kilimanjaro asked, obviously confused. "Why? If we go to England, it will cause hot spots to form in the very fabric of that land."

"We can all access the mantle from our own aeries, I'm sure."

"I can. I've been using my own aerie for a while now as my power source," Bandamon said.

"Very good, Bandamon. Now, let's head on out! Everyone, move!" She took off, as everyone did so at once. Bandamon felt squashed, and he yelped as a head hit him. A body smashed into his, and dragged him up above the flock. He caught a glimpse of neon colors before he was dropped again, to uproarious laughter.

"Stone!" he cried out. "Don't _do _that!"

"Oh, have a little fun, Flower Child!" Stone protested.

"I don't want _fun_, I want to go home and deal with Voldemort!"

"Who's got a wart?!" an ancient male named Blackrock asked.

"He said _Voldemort!_" Sand, Blackrock's mate, cried into the old Grypnon's ear.

"You've got a molded fart?!" Blackrock asked, misunderstanding again. Sand shook her head in despair.

"A molded fart?" one of the twins asked.

"You could—"

"Light your—"

"Own farts!"

"Instant blowtorch!" Surge and Flow finished as one. Lahar groaned in annoyance. How long would this nonsense go on?!

* * *

The Potions Professor walked through the door, rubbing his face with his hand. Since his return of sanity, he had had a difficult time with the classes. They were more rowdy, and a flying piece of anything could land in someone's caldron and make the entire school go the way of Mt. St. Helens. He looked at the fireplace, and saw a Firebird, sitting calmly next to his couch.

"Who are you?!" he snapped. He knew this wasn't Harry; this Firebird's crest was too tame. Its eyes were killing-curse green, the same as Harry's, and its coat was the same shade as his son's, however the unknown Firebird also was smaller than Harry, and its beak was more golden.

"Hello, Severus," the Firebird started, revealing that she was female. Severus looked at the creature, and nodded at it.

"Yes, Firebird?" he asked acidicly.

"You still haven't lost your wit, have you, Severus?" The voice woke a part of him he thought was dead.

"Lily…" he whispered.

"Yes, Severus. I returned. Please, take a seat. What I have to tell you cannot be said lightly. I forgive you for your harsh words on that fateful day." She lowered her great aquiline head, and rested it on the arm of his couch. Instinctively, he began running his fingers through her feathers, smoothing down her crest even more and gently removing loose feather sheath and feathers. "That feelsssssss heavvvvvenly, Sssssevvvvv," Lily purred. Her eyes drooped and she all but fell asleep under his loving ministrations.

"I am so sorry about that," he whispered to the Firebird almost curled around him.

"I lovvvvve you, Sssssevvvvv," she whispered softly, so soft he could hardly hear her.

"Lily," he said, carding his hands through her feathers. "You're married."

"That's not true, Sev. The marriage I had with James was annulled when we died; the exact wording was 'Til Death Do You Part'. We parted at death, and both made our separate ways to the Yellowstone caldera. In point of fact, James, was already there when I arrived. I very nearly ate him."

"You almost ate James Potter?" Severus chuckled.

"I did. He was there in his stag form, eating grass. When I saw him, this nice, fat, juicy deer eating all alone, I decided to hunt. As I stooped, he turned, saw me, and turned into Norris. I was so startled that another Firebird was there that I nearly shredded him. He still has a few scars from my talons, unfortunately." By then, Severus was laughing, wishing he could have seen his beloved Lily going after her own husband. "When I pulled up, finally, and untangled my talons from his scalp, I had knocked him out. I dragged him over to a cliffside cave, and I woke him up by beating him with my wings. When he awoke, he instantly cowered against the side of the cave, and his babbling told me who he was. He had no idea that I was a Firebird. We thought that Harry was dead as well, and were waiting for him to show up somewhere as a Firebird."

"You nearly killed James by accident?!" Severus howled in mirth.

"We decided not to reaffirm our vows after we realized who we were. We are still friends, and I know that Norris would like me to live with him again, but my aerie and his are different. I love you, Severus Snape, and no thoughtless words or forgiven actions are going to change that!"

"Gods, I love you, Lily," he whispered against her soft feathers. "I love you so much…"

"And I you. It's a pity that I'm not human, nor are you a Firebird."

"I know," he murmured. She enclosed him in her soft wings, holding him against her with forelimbs and wings, where they both fell asleep. He had totally forgotten the amount of respiratory aid potions he needed to make to counter the effect of the ash in the air.

* * *

_He was standing on legs which refused to bear his weight. Having one's hip and knee joints ripped from their sockets was not a pleasant experience. His ankles and wrists still bore rope burns from the rack, and his throat was raw from screaming. Well, he still believed that the King was wrong, and he would go to his grave with that thought! The rough wood scraped against the open sores on his back; it was like the Savior's wounds during His Passion. The wood was being stacked about him on the cold late January day, and his bare feet were freezing. Soon he would be warm though; soon he would be with God and His Son in Heaven. He began to laugh maniacally as the wood was lit. The flames leapt up the fuel and caught on his prison garb. Then, they caught on his flesh and he screamed with the pain of it. _

_As the end drew near, he began to see in different spectrums. The fire encased him, and he felt his head grow light and he became dizzy. He fell, the shackles having no hold on him anymore. His screams abated to a fierce avian shriek, and he felt his very bones morph, crack, shatter and reform. Then, he passed out. _

He hadn't had that dream in years, especially since King James had died. He resettled his wings and looked at his human. The human was having the same pattern of actions that the former English king had used; no tolerance against people of other religions. No mercy for anyone found to be a Death Eater (The oily human was an exception). And he hated all Slytherins, it looked like. If he had been a Wizard when he was human, the bird would have probably been in Slytherin. Well, he was going off to find the Potter boy and help him. He knew the old adage: if at first you don't succeed, try, try again!

The bird quickly put an image in his human's head, and his human went mad.

"You want to put Voldemort in the middle of Muggle London?! In the Muggle seat of politics in England?!!!" he yelped, having accidently blown up a couple delicate instruments in his shock. The bird nodded. "Why?!" The bird quickly placed an image of his human self in his human's mind, making sure the human knew who he had once been. "You intend to lure Voldemort into the middle of Muggle Parliament _while_ the Parliament is _running_, then _blow up_ the entire building?!" the human squeaked. The bird nodded. "You need serious help, Fawkes." The phoenix clicked his beak at his human.

_**Celebwen Telcontar: Well, it's kind of short. Shorter than the last chapter, that's certain. Please tell me if you enjoyed it, and if you've figured out who the bird was! **_

_**Balrog: Well, that's new. I never expected a technicolored Hippie Gryphon.**_

_**Celebwen Telcontar: He came in, set up shop, and now refuses to leave. Annoying, isn't it?**_

_**Balrog: I suppose so. Please review, people!**_

_**CT&B**_


End file.
